Beshears v. Wickes

• Decision Date: 01 September 1997
• Docket Number: No. 66,66
• Citation: 349 Md. 1,706 A.2d 608
• Parties: Earl BESHEARS v. Wayne F. WICKES. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 1

349 Md. 1

706 A.2d 608

Earl BESHEARS v. Wayne F. WICKES.

No. 66, Sept. Term, 1997.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

March 9, 1998.

Richard B. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), Baltimore, for petitioner.

Stephen Z. Meehan, Deputy Principal Counsel (David C. Wright, Principal Counsel; Joseph B. Tetrault, Staff Atty., Prisoner Rights Information System of Maryland, Inc., on brief), Chestertown, for respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, CHASANOW, RAKER and WILNER, JJ., and DALE R. CATHELL, Judge (Specially Assigned).

CHASANOW, Judge.

We are once again called upon to determine the effect of a 1992 amendment to Maryland Code (1957, 1996 Repl.Vol., 1997 Supp.), ARTICLE 27, § 700, THE MARYLAND¹ statute governing the calculation of diminution credits for inmates in Maryland. Specifically, this case presents the issue of whether an inmate who served time for a violent offense prior to 1992 and who was then released on mandatory supervision pursuant to the application of diminution credits may, upon re-incarceration for a subsequent nonviolent offense, take advantage of a 1992 increase in the number of good-conduct credits earned per month for nonviolent offenders. We believe our recent decision in Md. House of Correction v. Fields, 348 Md. 245, 703 A.2d 167 (1997) is controlling. For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm the trial court's grant of habeas corpus relief for Wickes and hold that these sentences constitute different terms of confinement and, therefore, the inmate may earn good-conduct credits at the post-1992 rate with respect to a subsequent nonviolent offense.

FACTS

In 1979, Appellee Wayne F. Wickes was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for rape. ² Through the application of 2076 diminution credits, Wickes was conditionally released on mandatory supervision in May of 1993. Of these diminution credits, 1139 were good-conduct credits calculated at a rate of five days per month pursuant to Md.Code (1957, 1976 Repl.Vol.), Art. 27, §§ 700(b) & 704A(1). In October 1992, § 700 was amended to provide for good-conduct credits at the rate of ten days per month for a term of confinement not including a sentence for certain drug-related crimes or crimes of violence. Chapter 588 of the Acts of 1992; see also Fields, 348 Md. at 250, 262, 703 A.2d at 170, 176. However, "[f]or an inmate whose term of confinement includes a consecutive or concurrent sentence for either a crime of violence as defined in Article 27, § 643B of the Code or a crime of manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, or possessing a controlled dangerous substance as provided under Article 27, § 286," good-conduct credits are to be calculated at a rate of five days per month. § 700(d)(2).

On October 18, 1995, Wickes was convicted of third-degree burglary and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Because the burglary conviction constituted a violation of his conditional release, a revocation hearing was held before the Maryland Parole Commission (MPC). At the hearing on April 26, 1996, MPC revoked Wickes's mandatory release, awarded him 22 months street-time credits pursuant to Md.Code (1957, 1993 Repl.Vol., 1996 Supp.), Art. 41, § 4-511, and rescinded 1000 good-conduct credits. As a result, Wickes was re-incarcerated. Upon his return to custody, the Division of Correction (the Division) calculated good-conduct credits for Wickes's third-degree burglary conviction, not deemed a violent offense under § 643B, at a rate of five days per month despite the amendment to § 700. The Division maintains that the lower rate was proper because Wickes's 1979 conviction of a violent offense (rape), a sentence which overlapped with and should thus aggregate into a single term of confinement with his sentence for burglary, precluded him from earning good-conduct credits at a rate of ten days per month under § 700. By these calculations, Wickes's mandatory supervision release date was set as October 21, 2000.

Dissatisfied with the manner in which these good-conduct credits were awarded, Wickes filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on April 22, 1997 in the Circuit Court for Somerset County, claiming that the Division erred in calculating his mandatory supervision release date and that, had the Division properly calculated his diminution credits, he would be entitled to immediate release. Wickes argued that he should have been awarded good-conduct credits for the burglary offense at a rate of ten days per month and that the Division's refusal deprived him of 413 credits. ³ The circuit court held that Wickes was entitled to be awarded good-conduct credits at the rate of ten days per month for his post-1992 conviction and ordered the Division to recalculate Wickes's sentence for burglary. The Division ⁴ appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, and this Court, on our own motion, issued the writ of certiorari prior to a judgment by the intermediate appellate court.

ANALYSIS

At issue in this case is the meaning of the phrase "term of confinement" as used in both § 700 and the effective date clause to the 1992 amendment to that section. See Ch. 588 of the Acts of 1992. Section 700 provides for the calculation of diminution credits, "credits which can be 'earned by inmates to reduce the lengths of their confinements.' " Fields, 348 Md. at 261, 703 A.2d at 175 (quoting Frost v. State, 336 Md. 125, 128, 647 A.2d 106, 107 (1994)). These credits accumulate until the inmate has "sufficient credits to earn entitlement to release," at which point "the inmate is deemed released under '[m]andatory supervision.' " Id. Good-conduct credits, which are awarded prospectively subject to an inmate's future good-conduct, are one type of diminution credit. § 700; see also Fields, 348 Md. at 262, 703 A.2d at 175-76. Prior to 1992, these good-conduct credits were awarded at a rate of five days per month regardless of the crime for which the inmate was incarcerated. Md.Code (1957, 1992 Repl.Vol.), Art. 27, § 700(d)(2); see also Fields, 348 Md. at 262, 703 A.2d at 176. Amended in 1992, § 700 now provides, in pertinent part, different rates depending on the type of crime:

"(d) Good conduct deduction.--* * *

(2) For an inmate whose term of confinement includes a consecutive or concurrent sentence for either a crime of violence as defined in Article 27, § 643B of the Code or a crime of manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, or possessing a controlled dangerous substance as provided under Article 27, § 286 of the Code, this deduction shall be calculated at the rate of 5 days for each calendar month, and on a prorated basis for any portion of a calendar month, from the first day of commitment to the custody of the Commissioner through the last day of the inmate's maximum term of confinement.

(3) For all other inmates, this deduction shall be calculated at the rate of 10 days for each calendar month, and on a prorated basis for any portion of a calendar month, from the first day of commitment to the custody of the Commissioner through the last day of the inmate's maximum term of confinement." (Emphasis added).

The legislature, however, expressly limited the application of the statute as amended to "a term of confinement imposed on or after October 1, 1992." Ch. 588 § 2 of the Acts of 1992 (emphasis added).

Section 700(a) also contains a definition of "term of confinement":

"(1) The length of the sentence for a single sentence; or (2) The period from the first day of the sentence beginning first through the last day of the sentence ending last for: (i) Concurrent sentences; (ii) Partially concurrent sentences; (iii) Consecutive sentences; or (iv) A combination of concurrent and consecutive sentences."

Importantly, this definition does not specify that it is applicable to "all of the sentences an inmate is currently serving." Moreover, this definition was

"not amended by the 1992 amendment. In fact, as the Court of Special Appeals noted ... in one of its opinions [reviewed by this Court in Fields ], 'it appears that the Legislature gave little thought to the definition of "term of confinement" when it enacted Ch. 588 [the 1992 amendment to § 700].' "

Fields, 348 Md. at 264, 703 A.2d at 177. Furthermore,

"[a] Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee floor report explaining House Bill 1089, which changed the rate for awarding good-conduct credits, used the term sentence rather than term of confinement and stated that: 'This bill may be applied prospectively only (i.e. to persons sentenced on or after the effective date of the bill).' (Emphasis added). Shortly after the statute at issue was enacted, one of the sponsors of that bill, Delegate John Arnick, was asked to explain the bill. He stated: 'If a person is sentenced before October 1, he is not eligible for the additional credits. A person sentenced on or after October 1 will receive the additional credits.' (Emphasis added)."

Fields, 348 Md. at 265, 703 A.2d at 177. Thus, in Fields, we noted that the definition of term of confinement is "not as clear as the Division would have us believe." 348 Md. at 265, 703 A.2d at 177.

Significant to our interpretation of the phrase "term of confinement" is our decision in Fields. In Fields, habeas plaintiffs, Fields and Hood, each with both pre-1992 and post-1992 sentences, challenged the Division's calculation of their good-conduct credits. As it did in the case sub judice, the Division grouped all of each inmate's sentences into one single "term of confinement" and awarded all good-conduct credits at the pre-1992 rate of five days per month. Addressing the effect of the 1992 amendment on the application of subsection (d)(3) to the sentences of inmates who are serving one or more pre-1992 sentences in addition to one or more post-1992 sentences, we rejected the Division's aggregation of all sentences into one single term of confinement. Consequently, we concluded that Hood and Fields were "entitled to...